AN OVERVIEW — THE CITRUS COLLEGE STORY

Celebrating over 110 years of service, Citrus College is located in Glendora in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, approximately twenty-five miles northeast of metropolitan Los Angeles. The college has the distinction of being the oldest community college in Los Angeles County and the fifth oldest in California. This public community college serves the residents and the students of the Azusa, Claremont, Duarte, Glendora and Monrovia school districts.

Citrus College, founded in 1915 with a class of 27 students, was led by Dr. Floyd S. Hayden, who helped bring the community college movement to California. The college's first graduating class in 1917 boasted four graduates. While enrollment had nearly quadrupled to 100 students by 1925, only 11 students graduated from the college in its first decade.

From 1915 to 1961, Citrus College was operated by the Citrus Union High School District. Between 1946 and 1959, Citrus College purchased 88 acres of land to expand the campus from 16 acres to the 104 acres it occupies today. In July 1961, the Citrus Junior College District was created to include the Azusa and Glendora unified school districts. In 1967, the district expanded to include the Claremont, Duarte and Monrovia school districts. In 1970, the district was renamed the Citrus Community College District to better represent the college's mission.


Explore the historical timeline to see how Citrus progressed from a small union high school founded in the late 19th century to the established Citrus Community College District it is today.


By 1975, enrollment had grown to more than 11,000 students, with nearly 700 degrees conferred that year. During this period, Citrus College continued to earn distinction for maintaining one of the strongest transfer records in the state. Ambitious building and expansion projects undertaken during the 1960s, 1970s and 1990s resulted in new construction and significant renovations across campus. These improvements enhanced the learning environment, expanded accessibility for individuals with disabilities, strengthened campus safety and introduced new technological capabilities to classrooms. The addition of the adapted physical education facility and a computer lab further advanced the college's educational resources and commitment to student success.

Since the launch of its long-term facilities expansion program in 2004, Citrus College has continued to enhance its campus to meet the evolving needs of students, faculty and the community. Recent projects have focused on modernizing instructional spaces, implementing sustainable building practices and creating technology-rich environments that foster collaboration and innovation. These efforts build upon the college' ongoing commitment to modernization and reflect its leadership in advancing student achievement, equity and academic excellence across the region.

Citrus College occupies a 104-acre campus and operates on a 16-week calendar during the fall and spring semesters. In addition, the college offers a variety of nontraditional scheduling options, including a winter session, summer courses and flexible class formats that incorporate hybrid and online learning opportunities.


LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Respectfully, Citrus College acknowledges the land on which it stands and recognizes our responsibility to the original and current caretakers of this land, water and air: the Gabrielino–Tongva peoples and other local tribes and all their ancestors and descendants — past, present and future. Today, we are dispersed, and each of our homes is also home to many Indigenous peoples from all over the world. We are grateful to have the opportunity to live and work on these homelands. We recognize that a land acknowledgment is an opportunity to restate our investment to a larger landscape of individual, collective and institutional commitments. Here at Citrus College, we are called to do our work in a welcoming and inclusive way as an institution of higher education. We are grateful for each other: our students, our faculty and our staff. We will continue our work to make a fairer, inclusive community that celebrates the diversity of the whole.


STUDENT FOCUS

INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIPS AND ASSOCATIONS

Citrus College is connected with a variety of respected organizations through memberships and certifications that help strengthen our programs and services.

The college is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, Western Association of Schools and Colleges, 428 J Street, Suite 400, Sacramento, California 95814, (415) 506-0234. The commission is an institutional accrediting body recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and the U.S. Department of Education. Additional information about accreditation, including the process for filing complaints against member institutions, is available at www.accjc.org.

Citrus College's professional memberships include:

A more extensive list of institutional memberships is available on the Citrus College Catalog website.